Hi everyone,
Welcome to the official hempy bucket thread, several years ago now I was among the first if not the first growers to give hempys method a try and had excellent success right away. From that point on, the method has literally spread all over the world and is being used in even the most remote of locations. What we have is a very basic method of cultivation, that with the appropriate environment conditions allow the plants to flourish in a very simple method that even the most inexperienced growers can find success in.

Having used it for several years now, my advice for anyone is to follow hempys basic instructions and too develop a comfort level with the system before experimenting with different mediums like turface, coco etc. One of the great things about hempys method is its flexibility in the mediums the grower can use. There are many reports of satisfied growers who used coco in stead of the traditional perlite and vermiculite reciple. Also great success has been found with just straight perlite. So the ability of hempys method to flourish under numerous different mediums and its practicality and ease of use make it an alluring method of cultivation for the novice to expert grower.

The original method, as by hempy himself. (Dalaihempy here at Icmag)

Quote:

Hi every one i thought id add this system of growing I use and have used from the early to mid 80s. As most of you that know me will already know that im a believer in simplicity and things that work and I only really state facts that I have experienced from hands on.

I like the hempy bucket because of its simplicity and the price of the system (ITS FREE ) to make and has no moving parts that can fail and once the plant has started its root system you can basically water and forget it for 2 days or 3 depending on temps and you can grow any strain from sativa to indica in it .

I basically got the idea from my first hydro kit I ever got that was a tomato hydro kit and I found it really easy to understand. It was basically an aquaponic set up and the guy I had got it from I went back a few years later telling him about my creation and how I got it from his idear and the look on his face and smile sed it all ,Ive spoken to a few people in the hydro industry about it and they all tell me it wont work it will cause root rot so on well there all wrong because this method works and they say a picture is worth a 100 words right lol.

I AM NOT SAYING THIS METHOD IS THE BEST BUT What I am saying is its a option and a easy cheap way to grow hydroponically and nothing more, I have tryed a lot of methods and have all ways gone back to this.

To make a hempy bucket is simple all you need to do is this

Get your self a bucket any color but clear as you will end up with algy forming as the nutes react to the light .

The size of the bucket can very from 1 gal (4lt) to 5gal (20lt) roughly I personally like useing a 10 lt bucket and have had up to 19 oz cured yield from a single bucket but it depends on the strain and given pheno .

Once you have your bucket then get a drill and drill a drain hole in the side of the bucket about 2 inch from the bottom , The drain hole can be around 7/16.

And the medium i use is perlite/vermiculite at around 3 to 4 parts perlite to 1 part vermiculite.You can use volcanic rocks but personally I found the perlite / vermiculite a lot better in many ways.

All you need to do now is basically add the rooted clone or seedling water with nutes and thats it,I would water it daily until the tap root and root system has headed down to the res but once you see a desent growth rate id then start to water every 2 days.

The only thing wrong with it is you need to hand water and you get run off from the drain hole thats it and as far as checking your PH well the only time you need to do that is when you mix your nutes i like useing a PH of 6.2 PH .

If you want to ask me questions feel free .

Like I said im not stating this methods is the best just saying its a option and a free one and it works and works well ................hempy

And for those who like a little visual stimulation, a video I put together detailing the above method.

Good luck out there people, if you have any questions feel free to shoot me a pm and I will do my best to help you out. I hope this thread helps some of you out there finally get the crop you always wanted. I promise you it can be done.

So the hempy buckets have your attention, but you're still not sure exactly how everything works? Lets go ahead and do a minor tutorial in an effort to establish exactly what a hempy bucket really is. These pictures below were borrowed from JessE's album over at mrnice.nl.

So the first step of the hempy buckets is to have rooted clones or seedlings.

Here we have the clones, perlite and vermiculite. All the material you're going to need to set up the hempy buckets initially.

Perlite

Vermiculite

A bucket(3 gallons will usually do the trick)

Wetting the perlite before handling to avoid dust kick ups. Recommended to do the same thing to the vermiculite as well.

Adding the perlite. Add 3 parts of perlite for every 1 part of vermiculite.

And the vermiculite making its way into the mix. Be sure to mix both mediums together each time you do an initial 3:1 ratio.

Repeat the process until your container is full.

Punch a hole on the side of your bucket, around 2 inches from the bottom of the bucket.

Ok time to add your rooted clone or seedlings.

Just place them right under the surface.

So now lets go over the feeding schedule. You will want to have a good hydroponic based nutrient formula. Below are General Hydroponics products.

An empty gallon jug to mix the nutrients in.

Follow the directions on the back your fertilizer on how to mix the nutrients according to the plants life cycle needs.

Add the indicated amounts of each part of your feeding routine to the jug by following the directions on the back of the bottles/containers.

Fill the entire gallon up with water after mixing your nutrients.

Now feeding time. Generally you will feed the plants every 2-3 days, although some prefer to feed them every day. You should feed the plants at full strength from the beginning, as according to hempys directions. All you have to do is follow the basic outline hempy outlined and success will follow.

looking good man i got my 2 hempy ready to go just took cutts today i will run 2 3 gallon hempy and on flood and drain under a 600 watt hps and we shall see how they do, but ur say if i stick with gh 3 part and use as the bottle says i be good to go?

Morning all,
I've used this method since I first read about it last year. However I did use a different medium, with great results. This time around I'm using horticulture grade Perlite & Turface ratio 3-1. I'm running Nirvana's Blue Mystic, NL/Shiva,Citral, Wallyducks C99 & Texas THC's House Sativa, all in 8 inch Sq pots. The mix seems light and I'm sure will need addtional watering. I'm looking forward to the results. Thanks for the great growing method.

Cool thread. I am just finishing up my first hempy bucket plant. CAKE. I usually grow organic in soil with dry fert's mixed in. I ran a 1 gallon hempy w/6oz of soilmix including 1tbsp kelp, 1tbsp plant success, 1tbsp lime. Not 'true' hempy, but is eased my mind a lil. I'm running a side by side with the hempy, str8 coco, and a coco mix. The hempy seems to be finishing a LIL more quickly. I'm running an 11/12 wk cut, and no def's, etc. I started feeding all measured feedings, etc... for a week. Then it was splashes of EJ and molasses. 1 time /wk got pbp. From ~wk6/7 I've been feeding them straight compost tea. Ima update the link in my sig today (now, lol).

looking good man i got my 2 hempy ready to go just took cutts today i will run 2 3 gallon hempy and on flood and drain under a 600 watt hps and we shall see how they do, but ur say if i stick with gh 3 part and use as the bottle says i be good to go?

Yes you should be fine following the directions on the bottle with GH 3 part hydro formula. Just read carefully and make sure you get the correct recipe which corresponds to the plants stage in its life cycle. The directions call for different mixes at different points in the plants stage of growth. If you have hardwater, make sure you get a GH formula designed for hard water use. It does make a difference in my experience.

Sound's cool man. i got my 2 -3 gallon with 3 parts perlite and one part vermiculite ready for my clones to root will be growing them in a dr-120 secretjardan grow tent with a 600 watts hps and one home made ebb and flow system i made i all so 3 home made himpy buckets out of floger coffee cans and strait perlite one is a strawberry plant i dug up from last years out door crop and one unknow vine wich was about dead when i transplanted it to hempy and in 3 weeks it has fully re coved and it doing more than great the growth is un real, it is very happy with the himpy.. as for ferts i put a mix of fish emulsions may be 2 days later run off from my coco grow or if it rains i will not water it for a week or two hoping the strawberry does great as i love em so much. nice to know i can still use my old bottles of gh 3 part ferts i been using only gf floranova grow and bloom for 2 years i lookk up the nute requirements for a strawberry plants and i came up with n-80 p 50 k 85 mg 50 s 56 ca 95-100 ir 2.8 so i did a lil calculation and came up with 4 mil mirco 5 mils bloom and 2 mils of grow and one tbs Epsom salt and came up with this n 77 36 p 90 k 51 mg 48 s 65 ca 1.26 ir looks like i got my nert mix very close couild not get that close with floranova i might do a grow thread in the veggy forums hey i was thinking i got a NGB grow box and i dont have much head room more like 32" to work with and been running a swc 6 gallon tub and getting tired of dealing with root rot i was wounder if the same tub would work as a hempy would be nice if it would then thats solve my height problem but not sure if it would work or not being it very shallow like 7" and with the drain hole a inch hight thats only leave me 6 " not sure if the roots would do well in some thing this shallow i might try it just for funs and see if it work or not

Hey Southern Seeds just started my first grow with White Widow from Nirvana.I was going to try a DWC but I decided instead to go with the Hempy buckets about 2 months ago when I first heard of them. I just finished setting up my room (just gotta light-proof it before flowering) and got a 400w HPS veggin' em for a while longer. Ill probably start a few more seeds in the next day or two. Ill get pictures up asap for all who are interested.